Jones was highly critical of Mr Turnbull for having dinner with the Palmer United leader, whom he described as the "most trenchant critic" of the Prime Minister.

"Tony and I are a team, we have a very united team here," Mr Turnbull said.

He told Jones he was "distressed" by commentators including the 2GB host and Bolt who he accused of stirring up leadership talk and "doing the Labor Party's work".

''No, there's no challenge to his leadership because you have no hope ever of being the leader, you've got to get that into your head but because of that you're happy to chuck a few bombs around that might blow up Abbott a bit,'' Jones said.